The Shy Type
by setmeonfireplease
Summary: Nori Nakumara is quite possibly the shyest boy in all of Ouran Academy. When he finds out Haruhi's secret, he is forced to join the host club, a nightmare for someone as shy as he is. Will he be able to break out his shell and learn to truly live, or will his shyness and demons from his past keep him from making friends, finding love, and maybe even truly finding happiness?
1. Chapter 1

Spring had arrived and love was in the air. Well, love was always in the air at Ouran Academy, due to the illustrious host club that resided there, but today had felt especially romantic. Flowers bloomed in the expensive vases that were placed strategically around the music room, filling said room with a lovely aroma. The sun shined outside, filling the room with natural warmth, and the hosts were at their prime.

The day went on, filled with poetic flirtations and the fulfillment of romantic fantasies being performed, until it was nearly time to close. The girls exited the music room, giggling and squealing with each other about their experiences that day. The hosts were lazing about the music room, Kyoya sitting at one of the tables while writing in that black book of his, Mori helping Honey settle down for his nap, and the twins and Tamaki pestering Haruhi as she tried to read her book.

Haruhi found herself quickly becoming more and more agitated with the three boys. No matter how much she ignored them, or tried to tell them to leave her alone, they would continue bothering her, trying to get her to give them the attention they so desperately craved. Haruhi would normally be able to put up with this, but this book was especially good and she would have liked to be able to indulge in it in peace. Before she could start to tell them off, however, the music room doors slammed open, and a small teenage boy with auburn hair was shoved in.

Everyone's heads snapped towards the cause of this sudden noise. The boy lay crumpled on the floor for a second as the doors slammed behind him. "Ow . . ." he muttered, and then began to slowly sit up. None of the hosts could see his face, just a mop of tangled auburn curls falling into his face as he stared at his lap. He was wincing in pain, his landed very roughly on his side. _I'm sure to get a bruise there_. The boy thought a bit bitterly. _Damn it Yuna. Last time I tell you anything_. He sighed and looked up, and was not too surprised to see seven handsome boys staring down at him. That didn't stop him from blushing and looking to the side in embarrassment, though.

The host club was a bit surprised at how the boy looked. He wasn't ugly, in fact quite the opposite was true. But he wasn't handsome like Tamaki, Kyoya, and the twins were, or 'hot' like Mori, or even adorable like Hani. No, the best word they could use to describe him was pretty. Like Haruhi. Maybe even prettier than Haruhi, in the sense that he looked a bit more girlish. Everything about him screamed pretty, there was no doubt about it. From the shape of his face, to the fullness of his lips, to his bright green cat like eyes, the boy who sat in front of him was just pretty. He didn't help his case by blushing and looking to the side. In fact, it made him look cute. Cute and pretty. All of the hosts were sure that these were words that the boy did not want to be described by, as many teenage boys would not enjoy those kind of compliments. Unless you were Honey, of course. Then you could call him cute all you wanted.

Kyoya was the first to break the heavy and awkward silence. "I apologize, but we are closing. We will have to ask you to come back tomorrow." The boy, who was still looking to the side in an attempt to avoid the hosts steady gaze, suddenly snapped his head in their direction. "No no – I . . . I'm not h-here to . . ." The boy, who had started off in a panic, trailed off awkwardly. His eyes were wide and he was blushing even more than before. Tamaki couldn't help but note how adorable the boy looked before he went into charming host king mode. He tried to grab his hand, but surprisingly, Haruhi beat him to the punch. She noticed how shy he seemed and didn't want Tamaki to go into his charming king mode and scar him forever. She swiftly pulled the pretty stranger up, but did not account for his clumsiness. She found the boy stumbling into her, knocking them both down with an _UMPH_. The boy, in another embarrassed panic, tried to push up to scramble away. He froze when he realized that the feel of the body did not match the way it looked. "I am so so –" Before he could finish his apology, he was quickly lifted up by the twins and was being held back in their tight grip. Tamaki was glaring viciously at him, and so were the twins that held him down. It was a sudden change from the usually charming look on Tamaki's face, and the usually mischievous look on the twins. "How much did you feel?" Tamaki hissed angrily. "N-no-nothing that wasn't any of my business." The boy stammered nervously. He didn't like it when they were staring at him, and he sure as hell didn't like it when they were glaring at him. "What's that supposed to mean?" One of the twins – the one on his right – asked. "It means that if this person is biologically a girl but doesn't identify as one then that's really none of my business . . ." The boy murmured, still not meeting any of their eyes. "Guys stop it you are frightening him!" Haruhi snapped, snatching the boy out of the twins tight grip. The boy himself was feeling quite tired of being pulled and shoved around so much.

"We cannot have someone knowing your secret! It's a liability! What if he ends up being some big blabber mouth and tells everyone! You wouldn't be able to be a host and then you'd have to work twice as long to pay off your debt!" Tamaki reminded the younger girl, glaring suspiciously at the boy who was cowering – in an admittedly cute way – next to Haruhi. Hikaru and Kaoru nodded in agreement. Haruhi glanced at the obviously timid and frightened boy and highly doubted that he would go around telling everyone her secret. However, she knew that Tamaki nor the twins would let up about it. "You promise you won't tell a soul right?" She asked the boy kindly. The boy's blush, which had faded away, quickly came back as he was being asked a question. He wasn't used to being spoken to directly by strangers. He nodded quickly, not wanting to be snatched up by the twins again. Their tight grip was sure to leave a bruise.

"No! That is still not good enough! You need to join the host club!" Tamaki announced, as if the idea of this obviously timid boy joining the host club because he knew of a secret was perfectly sane. Everyone froze, including the new boy. "No! No no please don't make me join I'm not going to tell anyone I swear on my life please . . ." The boys desperate babbling was left unnoticed by the other members. Even Kyoya was too distracted with Tamaki's ridiculous idea to take notice of something as well, noticeable as this. "Tamaki that is ridiculous! There is a budget that is perfectly designed for seven members! Not to mention that he doesn't even want to join!" Kyoya snapped, shocked at Tamaki. He's had some pretty crazy ideas before, but forcing a shy boy to join the club when they don't even have anything on him . . . that was odd even for him. The others protested, except for Mori who stayed silent as ever, and Honey who didn't seem to mind one way or another. "You can't just force him to join Tamaki-Senpai!" Haruhi protested. "And why not?' Tamaki asked, tilting his head to the side. "We don't even know his name!" She cried out. "Huh . . . you're right we don't know his name." Tamaki said, then turned around asking "Hey you, what's your name?". The boy froze. He had been slowly edging towards the door, in hopes of escaping while the others were busy arguing. No such luck, apparently. But the boy couldn't even find it within himself to be disappointed. Tamaki Souh was staring at him . . . asking him a direct question . . . wasn't angry at him this time . . . wanted to know something about him . . . the boy found himself growing warmer, and he knew he was blushing again. "Nori Nakamura, first year, class A." The boy said in a whisper soft voice. Tamaki found himself having to contain a squeal at how adorable this boy was. He definitely made the right decision in having him join the host club.

Then the boys name sunk in. Everyone was in shock to have a member of the Nakamura clan standing in front of them. Everyone, except Haruhi. "What's the big deal?" She asked, taking notice of the others reaction. "The Nakamura family is quite famous and powerful, owning the largest cooperation in the technology business. Haven't you ever heard of Nakamura Tech?" Kyoya asked, confused as to how Haruhi couldn't even know about someone this famous. Haruhi, however, finally did realize just how important this boy was when she heard the name "Nakamura Tech." Everyone of the host club members, besides Haruhi had their newest cell phone – lovingly named the Nori – sitting in their pocket, the latest of their computers sitting in their rooms, their most high definition flat screen hanging on the walls of their room, as well as every other kid in the school did. Tamaki knew for a fact that Kyoya used their camera to take those secret photos of them. "Hikaru, Kaoru, why didn't you mention he was in your class?" Kyoya asked.

"Well, we never noticed him." Hikaru stated. "Yeah, he's really shy. Once when the teacher called him to the board to answer a problem he fainted." Kaoru finished. "Why is that the only thing anyone ever remembers about me?" Nori mumbled to himself. "See, it would be an awful idea to have such a shy person in the host club! No offence to you Nori, but I don't think you'd like it here very much." Haruhi cried out indignantly. She really did not want anyone else being roped into the same situation as her, especially a timid and sweet boy like Nori. "It is too late. The king has commanded it." Kaoru said with a shrug, as if it was a hopeless cause. Hikaru nodded in agreement. "I suppose we could stretch the budget a bit tighter. I mean, it's not as if we'd need to much fabric for the costumes anyway." Kyoya said as he began writing in his black book. Nori blushed, knowing that the older boy was obviously referring to his unfortunate lack of height. The others began to notice as well. While he was nowhere near as small as Hani, he was definitely no taller than Haruhi, who – according to her latest physical examination – was only 5'1. _God he is too cute!_ Tamaki thought, wanting to reach out and hug the timid and small pretty boy. "We still need to find him a type though!" Kyoya called out from his spot at the table he moved back too. He had begun the calculations. Haruhi sighed, knowing that the only reason the others agreed to Tamaki's ridiculous plan was because of the status that this boy held. _Rich people are shameless._ Thought Haruhi is disgust. "Well, isn't it obvious?" Tamaki asked, pulling Haruhi out of her thoughts. "Little Nori here is the shy type!" Tamaki announced with a bit of dramatic flair. Nori sighed, knowing that he had no way out of this one now.

...

"How did it go?" A girlish voice asked, seemingly coming out of nowhere. Nori looked around and saw Yuna, his best friend, suddenly standing next to him. He jumped up in shock. "Yuna quit doing that!" He cried out and Yuna giggled. She was very pretty, with her flawless brown skin and large brown doe eyes. Her black hair was tied back in a braid. Her family had moved her from India when Yuna and Nori were seven, and due to their families business ties, it was in their best interests to become friends. All these years later, despite all their differences and the complications – such as Nori's move to England a while back –, they were still the closest of friends, even in their first year of high school. "Sorry, but seriously, how did it go?" Yuna asked again, taking on a more serious attitude. Nori sighed. "Not quite as planned." He mumbled.

"What do you mean?" Yuna asked curiously. "I may have joined the host club." Nori said. He didn't notice that Yuna had stopped walking until he was a good foot in front of her. He turned around to see her frozen in shock. "Yuna?" He asked, confused. "You . . . _you _joined the host club?" She asked, surprise and disbelief dripping from every word. Nori nodded, blushing again. "OH MY GODS THIS IS BETTER THAN EXPECTED!" Yuna shrieked, bouncing up and down, gathering attention of the other classmates who were leaving school late as well. "Yuna! Yuna stop your causing a scene!" Nori said, embarrassed by everyone's eyes on them. Yuna stopped, muttering a quick apology and they started walking again. "And how exactly is this better than expected?" Nori asked.

Yuna rolled her eyes and huffed indignantly, as if it were obvious. "Hello? You get to spend more time with him! Duh!" Yuna said, excitement contaminating her tone. Nori also couldn't help feeling excited about that as well. He thought back to the handsome boy, the whole reason why he went to the music room in the first place. Maybe by spending more time with him, the boy would grow to care for Nori as much as Nori cared for him. He hoped so. He really did.


	2. Chapter 2

Nori was beginning to have second thoughts about joining the host club. Okay, so he hadn't wanted to join in the first place, but now a sense of dread weighed heavily in his mind. And as the day went on, the heavy sense of dread only grew  
>It had started in the morning. Before school started, he had come to peace about his new role in the host club, and despite his painful shyness, was even a little excited for it. In fact, he hadn't become too worried about joining until after he had gotten to school. He had chatted with Yuna for a bit before they parted ways. He made his way to class in peaceful silence. No friends stopped to chat with him, for he did not have any other than Yuna. His older brother, Sora, had ignored him as they passed each other in the halls, which was a normal thing. His brother did love him, and often doted on him when they were at home, but was never able to much attention to him while out in public. Nori was okay with it though. He knew he wasn't very noticeable. He was fine with his lack of friends, with the lack of attention. People scared him, and too much attention made him feel uncomfortable. With his shy and slightly reclusive personality, he enjoyed the solitude. Despite the loneliness it sometimes brought, it kept him safe. He wasn't about to willingly give that feeling of security. Unfortunately, it seemed as though Nori didn't have a choice.<br>The first thing the auburn haired boy noticed when he walked in the class was that his seat, placed in the back corner by a large window, was taken. He was a bit surprised. No one besides himself ever wanted to sit in the back corner. It was a bit cut off from everyone else, which was what Nori liked about it. He went completely unnoticed back there, except for that one time the teacher called on him, and it was a bit of safe haven for him. It was a bit disconcerting to see said safe haven being defiled by another person right before his eyes.  
>"Hey Nori."A voice whispered into Nori's ear, causing the small boy to gasp and leap away in fear. He twirled around to see one of the twins from the host club – either Hikaru or Kaoru, he wasn't sure – standing there beside him, a cackle escaping his mouth. Nori's face turned a burning crimson as he realized that HikaruKaoru was laughing at his little freak out. "H-hey . . ." He stammered, shoving his hands into his pocket and looking down at the side, embarrassed. "I just wanted to tell you that you'll be sitting with us from now on." The boy said, getting straight to the point. Nori's head shot up, a look of surprise on his face. "You just looked kind of confused." Hikaru/Kaoru explained while shrugging, confusing Nori's surprise as 'how did you know what I was wondering?'. Nori's look of surprise did not convey that. In fact, it conveyed his shock that someone would be so rude and obnoxious that they would have someone's seat switched without even bothering to ask said person. "Why did you do that?" Nori asked, frowning. "Well, we emare/em going to be in a club together. We might as well take advantage of the fact that we are in the same class and spend more time with each other." Hikaru/Kaoru stated, but the look in his eye made it clear that that was not the real reason behind having Nori's seats switched. "Besides, it's not good for someone your size to be sitting all the way in the back. How do you even keep up? I can't imagine that you can easily see past everyone when even most of the girls here are taller than you." The other twin said smoothly while waltzing up. Nori blushed again. He felt as though the subject of his height would not be easily let go, despite the fact that Honey-Senpai was shorter than him. "You know Kaoru, I don't think Nori wants to sit with us." Hikaru – or at least Nori assumed he was Hikaru – said. "I think your right Hikaru." Kaoru said while pouting. Nori shook his head vigorously. "N-no! That's not it at all!" Nori said, his voice suddenly louder than it was a moment ago. The twins found themselves surprised by the small boy's sudden outburst, and Kaoru opened his mouth to say something, but before he could, Nori had scrambled off. He sat in his new seat, which was next to Haruhi. They were both in between Kaoru and Hikaru. Haruhi looked up from her book and smiled sympathetically at Nori.  
>"Sorry about them. I know they can be a bit overbearing." She said. "We are not!" The twins protested as they slid into their seats. Haruhi rolled her eyes at them and Nori, surprisingly, giggled in response. The three others quieted in surprise. The only boy they had ever heard giggle before was Honey, and they sure as hell didn't expect to hear it come from Nori. In hindsight, when they took Nori's pretty and soft appearance into account, they should have.<br>It was a girl who broke the silence, but not Haruhi. It was a fellow classmate, Hiyori. Two of her friends, Airi and Rina, stood behind her. The three were regulars at the host club, their favorites being the twins. They began to chat, including Haruhi in it. Nori stayed silent, not minding that the girls didn't even notice him. He didn't want to have to talk anyway. Talking to the twins at once, then Haruhi, was difficult enough. He couldn't imagine having to do it to those three, plus three more. But the conversation soon turned to the topic of Nori, who never had much luck. "Who's he?" Airi asked, rudely interrupting the conversation. All eyes turned to the pretty boy, who immediately tried to shrink into his seat. Kaoru stopped him from doing so, though.  
>"This is Nori Nakumara." He said brightly. "He's a new member of the host club!" Hikaru said, just as cheerily. They both had matching smiles on their faces and Haruhi found herself shaking her head. <em>What a bunch of sadists.<em> She thought, pitying the small boy next to her. He looked as though he wanted the ground to swallow him. "Really?" Rena asked excitedly, twirling a brown curl around her finger. Nori found himself nodding. "Nori . . . like the seaweed?" Airi asked, tilting her head to the side. Nori blushed. He seemed to be doing a lot of that lately. Hiyori smacked Airi's shoulder, and whispered something into her ear. Nori had a feeling he knew what Hiyori was telling her friend, and when he saw Airi's reaction he knew he was right. Airi eyes went wide and she stood a little straighter, a light blush spreading across her checks. Hiyori had told Airi who he was, what family he belonged to, in order to let her know that she needed to be as respectful as possible. That he had the power to destroy her family. Not that Nori would ever use it. But he doubted that the girls knew that. Airi muttered an apology, but Nori answered anyway. "Yeah, like the seaweed. My mom named me after it cause while she was pregnant with me, she always had a craving for it." Nori said kindly, a soft smile gracing his face. All three of the girls blushed at the sight of this pretty, shy boy smiling and speaking to them so kindly and softly. The teacher walked in, announcing that class was starting. The girls said their farewells and walked off, giggling to each other over Nori.  
>"He's so shy! It's adorable!" Rena said. "He's so pretty and small like a girl. I think I may be into that . . ." Airi trailed off thoughtfully. "Did you see the way he smiled at us? So kind . . ." Hiyori sighed dreamily. The twins started to laugh uncontrollably at the overheard conversation between the girls. Haruhi found herself biting her lip to keep from laughing. Nori was blushing and trying to sink into his seat again, all though he couldn't help but feel flattered by the comments. No one outside of his family and Yuna had really complimented him before. Still, the attention made him uncomfortable. People still frightened him. And he still wished he was back in the corner. This was the beginning of the dread of host club.<br>By the time school had ended, he had to be forcibly dragged to the music room by Hikaru and Kaoru. Haruhi was walking behind them, scolding the twins for being so forceful. Nori wondered why she was being so protective of him. Was it because she was in his place not too long ago? Or was she trying to ingratiate herself because of his family? It wouldn't be the first time. He wondered if it was just plain pity that made her behave so protectively of him. emDoes she know about . . /em. Nori thought. emNo, she can't possibly know. No one knows. She doesn't have any power what-so-ever, she, of all people, would never be the one to find out./em Nori decided. But she had to have some sort of motive for being so nice to him. Everyone always did. Even Yuna, at first at least, was only kind to him because their family did business together. Then again, he was kind to her because his parents had told him to be, so it wasn't like he could judge.  
>Before Nori realized it, they had made it to the Music Room. The twins dropped Nori immediately, causing Haruhi to glare at them. "Guys, don't be so rough with him." She scolded, beginning to feel quite like a mother scolding two of her children for bullying their younger sibling. "I'm okay." Nori said while getting up. It didn't quite satisfy Haruhi, who had taken a liking to the quiet boy – she wondered if that was why she liked him so much, because he was peaceful and quiet – and she wanted to continue to scold the twins. They needed to learn how to be kind to others. She knew they were only behaving like this because they felt he was intruding on the host club. Apparently, the awe of him being a Nakamura wore off. Before she could manage to scold them, though, the twins wandered off to bother Tamaki.p  
>p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify;"Nori had glanced around the people in the Music Room. They were all so different from him. They were confident, comfortable in their own skin. They were charming, each in their own quirky way. They seemed . . . happy. Nori found himself in awe at that. He wondered if he could ever be as confident and as charming as they all were. He wondered if he could ever be happy like they were. He shook his head and frowned. Now was not the time for thoughts like that. Especially while Tamaki was hopping around him like an excited puppy, demanding his attention.<p>

"So, Nori . . . I heard you used to live in England." Said the pretty, petite girl who sat in front of Nori. Two other girls sat on either side of her. All three had their eyes trained upon the auburn haired boy, who was shifting nervously under their gaze. "Oh . . . um yes I did. With my father and my older brother Sora." Nori said shyly, giving a small nod of confirmation.  
>"Oh, what's it like? Was it nice?" Another girl asked, Yui, asked excitedly. "It was very nice there . . . I didn't particularly enjoy my time there, but it had nothing to do with the country itself! The nation is beautiful, I just had some very bad experiences there . . ." Nori muttered, trailing off as he looked to the side. The girls didn't ask any questions about said experiences, being able to tell that the shy boy in front of them obviously did not want to talk about it.<br>_Experiences . . . I wonder what he's talking about_. Tamaki thought as he gazed upon the younger boy who sat nearer to him than the other hosts. He had began to chat with the girls who had requested him again, an adorable ball of nervous excitement and timid shyness.  
>"Tamaki, you need to stop watching over Nori and start paying attention to your hosts." Tamaki was snapped back to reality by Kyoya hissing in his ear angrily. "What? Oh! I am so sorry princesses, I'm just concerned about how our new host is doing. He's a bit shy and I just want to make sure he's comfortable and okay." Tamaki explained with an apologetic smile. They girls in front of him nodded understandingly and began to chatter with him, and hard as Tamaki tried, he couldn't keep his attention on them. It kept drifting back to Nori, who was currently blushing the most adorable shade of red. Kyoya fought off the urge to beat the blonde with his black book.<br>"So why did you join the host club?" Ruka asked, tilting her head the side curiously. "Oh . . . well, you see, I had come here to do something very important, but before I could manage to, they somehow convinced me to join." Nori said. It wasn't a complete lie. He had come there to do something important, but they part about him joining willingly was not true. But it wasn't like he could say "They forced me to join because I found out Haruhi is really a girl" now could he. "Oh, if you don't mind me asking, what was it you had come here to do?" Misaki asked politely, tilting her head to the side curiously. Nori felt his face grow warm as a blush began to spread across his cheeks.  
>"Oh . . . yes . . . I suppose I should tell you . . . you see, there's someone in this club who I am very fond of . . . I might be in love with them, all though I'm sure it is unrequited, I felt it was fair that I would tell them . . . or at least my friend Yuna did – to be fair she's also convinced that he'll somehow magically fall in love with me now that I've joined the club, but anyway, Yuna had dragged me over here to confess, but I never got the chance to." Nori explained shyly. He felt everyone's eyes on him, not just the girls in front of him, but the eyes of all the girls in their room along with the hosts. <em>Oh my God . . . they all heard me say that . . . even the hosts . . . oh no. No<em>ri thought, pure horror rushing through his veins. Right at that moment, club had ended, and the girls began to file out, gossiping excitedly about what they had just witnessed. "I wonder who it is." Nori overheard one girl ask. "I hope its Mori-Senapi . . . oh that would be such a cute couple!" Another squealed.

Nori felt his face begin to burn up once again as his heard the girls talk about his love life. His blush never got the chance to go away, because once it was just the hosts in the room, a question rang out. "Nori-kun, you love someone in the host club?" Honey asked from atop Mori's shoulders, innocently tilting his head to the side. Nori felt his head nod as he began to nervously twiddle with his sleeves. "If you guys want to kick me out now, I'll understand." He murmured. He wasn't sure why he felt so disappointed, just this morning he was desperate to get out of this club, and now he didn't want to leave. It was fun, he had to admit. It was nice to have a group of almost friends. It was nice to be a part of something.

"What? Why would we do that?" Tamaki asked, tilting his head to the side in confusion. "Because it might make you guys uncomfortable –"  
>"Nori, if there's one thing we're used to, its people being in love with us." One of the twins said confidently – Nori believed it was Hikaru, but he couldn't say for sure – with a smirk on his face. "Yeah, besides, we can help you woo this person, whichever one of us it is!" Honey said excitedly. "I just have one question, is it me?" Haruhi asked. Normally she'd never be so forward and rude, but she had to know. In middle school, boys she barely knew would always be declaring their love for her, and she'd hate to have to go back to that. "What? No! I hope I'm not insulting you but I don't feel that way towards you." Nori said while shaking his head. Haruhi let out a sigh of relief, and Tamaki felt like he wanted to. He wondered why that was.<br>"We can help you write love poems for this person and teach you how to be romantic and how to flirt and you'll be sure to have whichever one of us it is in no time. After all, we all know what each other likes." Tamaki said, just as excitedly as Honey did. "Wait, are we really going to be helping Nori get one of us to fall on love with him?" The twin Nori believed to be Karou asked. "That sounds like a good plan to me." Tamaki said, and the host club sighed. Tamaki's 'good' plans, rarely ever ended up as good as he hoped them to be. But still, they had to admit it was nice to help the shy new member. Nori felt himself grin as he watched his fellow club members talk boisterously and joke around and tease each other. Maybe this wouldn't be so bad.


End file.
